Nine Lives to Endure
by tauphe
Summary: When Chloe is exposed to aspects of Mai culture long since forgotten, she will learn the true meaning of her destiny as the Uniter."I have left my mark on you Chloe, and you're more like your ancestors than you even know."Chalek,for now. M later, probably
1. Chapter One

**Authors Note:**

**This fic came to me after the "Dogs of War" episode, when Chloe encounters the jackals. I'd been getting the itch to write something for it, and bam! here it is. Who am I to say no? However, I will say that ABC's child's play with a plot line of this potential was another reason the plot bunnies started forming in my head. Whatever. We'll see.**

**Disclaimer:**

**The Nine Lives of Chloe King belongs to ABC Family and Liz Braswell, respectively. All that belongs to me is the plot that this story will have, which is pretty up in the air at this point.**

. ... .

_Chloe's POV_

"You were right, Chloe. It's time for me to start moving on, and I need this. We need this."

My mother's mouth was forming and speaking the words, but I was having a hard time believing that it was actually her speaking them.

"Mom.." I started, but my mother quickly stopped my speech.

"I'm not going to sign this unless you're okay with it Chloe. I could never do that to you. I just want you to think about it. I don't need an answer now, okay?" She looked at me, and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness at how much I was keeping from her.

It was too much to deal with right now.

"Okay, mom. I promise I'll think about it."

"I love you, Chloe."

"Implied."

"Goodnight. Sweet dreams," she said as she stood up from the table. I watched her as she went up the stairs to bed.

As soon as I heard her bedroom door shut, there was a tap on the door. I felt a wave of annoyance come over me. Seriously? Who was it now? Curiosity won out over annoyance, however, and I opened the door.

To my surprise, the mysterious knocker was Alek. Memories of the brutal beating he had took today flashed before my eyes at the sight of him, and I walked down my steps. He wasn't looking at me, and I found that I felt a strange mixture of worry and anxiety. Since when had Alec knocked?

"Alek?" I said cautiously, and he looked at me. "Are you..are you okay?"

For a moment, he said nothing. He simply looked at me with his brown eyes and for some reason that I couldn't explain, the look he was giving me made every nerve in my body became aware of him. I felt a pleasant tingle on my skin and my heart's rhythm kicked up a gear.

"We belong together," he said. The sound of his voice sent another thrill down my spine.

But before I could say anything further, his lips were on mine. Was Alek actually kissing me right now? I stiffened slightly, but the feeling of his lips on mine sent a slow, liquid burn through my body. What seemed like way too soon, he pulled away from me.

He looked at me with his dark gaze and I held it as I closed the space between our lips with my own. His lips were hot on mine then, and I lost myself in the feeling. My body hummed and the some part of my brain was grateful that I didn't have to worry about him dying.

He traced my bottom lip with the velvety tip of his tongue. I almost moaned from the feeling, but with the pleasure came my first ray of doubt. What was I doing? I pulled away from him suddenly.

"Chloe-" his voice was surprised, and I thought maybe I hurt him.

"I-I'm sorry Alek..I'm just really confused right now and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything-"

"Chloe," he cut me off, and something about his tone made me stop my rambling. "You don't have to be sorry to me. I just needed to show you how much I care for you."

I fell awkwardly silent. The shock had not worn off yet. Had that really just happened?

I looked at him, and then around us. We were on my front porch, in full view of..well who knows what I might be in full view of, to be honest? I looked back to Alek. He seemed to have been following my train of thought.

"So..uhm..aside from that, Alek, is there anything else you needed?"

"Actually, yes. I need to talk to you about something else. But not here. Up in your room."

Suddenly I just wanted pause the situation. I didn't want to hear what he had to tell me upstairs. I just wanted to stay right here and not worry about it.

Unfortunately that option wasn't available to me.

"Okay. But be quiet. My mom only just went to sleep." I sighed.

. ... .

**AN: What do you think? Interested in the next chapter? Please, let me know. :) Haven't written in a few months, so try to take it easy on me. Haha.**


	2. Chapter Two

**Author's Note:**

**Holy crow! In one night, this story got more favorites and alerts then I was expecting. I woke up with two inbox pages full! Sadly, most didn't have anything to say.. For those who did review, thank you. I love reading them. :)**

**Disclaimer: **The Nine Lives of Chloe King belongs to ABC Family and Liz Braswell, respectively. All I want to play with is their characters and my plot. :)****

. ... .

"Be quiet," Chloe said, and Alek watched her lips move when she spoke the words. Those lips; they were perfect. They were soft and smooth and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her thoroughly for the next few hours. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the agenda tonight. "My mom only just went to sleep," she said, lowering her voice to near-whisper. She sighed, as she opened her front door.

"Not to worry, kitten. I'm more quiet than you can ever be," Alek said, matching her volume.

Chloe frowned, "Did you just call me kitten?" she hissed.

He smiled and moved around Chloe and maneuvered through her house quickly. It was easy; Mai were always able to figure out how to get around places. Up her stairs Alek went and was laying on her bed before she had even gotten up the stairs.

She opened her door to the familiar, by now, sight of the Mai lounging on her furniture.

"Alek, what's going on?" Her voice was a normal tone now, and there was an edge of annoyance.

"What's going on is that I shouldn't be here telling you this. I can't..I can't believe I'm even doing this.."

A darkness passed over his face, and Chloe realized that this must be really important. She bit her bottom lip nervously, tucking a blonde curl behind her ear. She walked over to her bed and sat on the edge of it, near Alek.

"What is it, Alek?" she asked, her voice softer than before.

"The mission to bring your Jackal home today was two kinds of a trap," he said. Chloe opened her mouth, confused. Before she could speak, he continued, "Valentina wanted me to text her as soon as we found out where the Jackals were hiding. We weren't supposed to go in there. Mai hunters were on standby and-"

"What? Valentina _lied _to me? After I directly _told _her that Kai was under my protection and that I was taking him home." The news of this betrayal stung Chloe, who had put a lot of trust into Valentina. She looked at Alek, a question forming in her bright blue eyes, "If that's what was supposed to happen, why _didn't_ it?"

Alek grinned, "Now you sound like Valentina," he said, pausing for a moment. "I was supposed to text Valentina when we found the location," he said slowly, as if he were choosing words carefully, "but I gave you my word. I couldn't go against you and obey her."

Chloe felt an odd sense of warmth spreading through her body, as she looked at Alek and listened to his words. For the first time, she felt as though she had a direction with this whole Uniter thing. The news about Valentina made her uneasy, though. The fact that I was the result of a thousand year prophecy and I was called the 'Uniter' _obviously_ didn't mean anything to her.

"Thank you, Alek. That means..so much to me. You don't know," she said, and Alek smiled at her. She wanted to lean forward and kiss him again. Her lips tingled at the thought, but she controlled herself as well as she could. She needed to stay focused.

"What do you think about Valentina?" she asked him, and his mouth formed into a frown.

"I don't know, kitten. I'm not sure if she's got an agenda against you, but I do know that you shouldn't trust her as blindly as before. However, you don't want her as an enemy..if it ever gets to that point."

_Please oh please oh please don't get to that point, _Chloe prayed in her head. She nodded and fell silent.

Alek sighed, "I should be getting back, now. Valentina will be wondering where I got along to. I'm supposed to take the night off," he motioned to his many injuries.

Chloe felt a spasm of panic when he mentioned leaving, but of course he had to go. What was she thinking? Just because he kissed her didn't mean he was magically going to stay around for forever. She took a breath and nodded.

"Alek..before you go, I just.."

As Chloe stumbled over whatever she was trying to say, Alek's hand grabbed her lightly, pulling her closer to him. Their lips met and Chloe felt herself melting into him. His hand tangled in her hair, slightly pulling it; a pain that felt good. The liquid heat spread through Chloe's body and she gasped at the feeling. Their tongues met then, Alek's dancing with hers in soft, velvety movements. Chloe moaned lightly into the kiss.

Alek pulled away from Chloe's mouth and the girl whimpered so quietly that he knew it hadn't been on purpose.

Alek's brown eyes studied her, awed by how beautiful she was. Her amazing blue eyes, however, were closed.

"Look at me." he said, as he trailed a finger down her cheek and then followed the curve of her neck with his finger as well. Her blue eyes opened and met his. For a moment they just stared at each other. Alek noted how her pupils were slightly elongated, and pulled her closer to him.

He leaned to her, breathing in her perfume that she had sprayed at the base of her neck. Closing his eyes, he planted a light kiss on the curve of her neck. He heard Chloe gasp, almost silently, and began kissing from the base of her jaw to her collarbone. It left Chloe breathless. His lips were so soft and smooth on her skin, and she couldn't describe what his performance was doing to her body.

Hit bit down easily on the smooth, creamy skin of her neck and there was a jolt of pleasure that surged through her body, straight to her core. Her eyes, that she hadn't even realized she shut, flew open.

"Alek..."She said breathlessly, pushing him away lightly.

"Mmm," Alek said, as he began kissing his way up to her cheek, stopping as he placed the last kiss there. "Yes, kitten?"

"You were saying that you needed to be getting home," she said, though her voice cracked at the end of it. She pulled away from him. Alek smiled at her, and she blushed.

"Too true. Goodnight, Chloe." He placed a last kiss on her lips, and then stood off her bed. Chloe watched as he climbed out her window, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

. ... .

_Chloe's POV_

_I was outside, near a river. I could see it and hear it in the distance, but wasn't close enough to touch it. The land was nothing that I have ever seen. Sand was all around me, and the sun scorched so brightly and so hot that it almost made me dizzy._

_"It takes some getting used to, I agree," a voice said from behind me. It was both beautiful to hear to and hard to listen to, and I turned around to see a beautiful woman. She was tall and her long hair was blacker than any black I've ever seen. Her eyes, brilliantly green, were almond shaped and the pupils were slits down the middle. She wore clothes the same color of her skin, and I wasn't sure which was which._

_"Where..where am I? And who are you?" the words came out of my mouth and the beautiful woman simply smiled at me, and looked at me intensely with those odd green eyes._

_"Chloe, who do you think I am?" she asked, and I was silent. For some reason I didn't understand but simply _felt_, and I knew who she was._

_"Bestet?" I asked, and she nodded. "But..where are we?" I asked again, looking around._

_She looked around for a moment before speaking, "Well if you're wondering where this spot is, that's the Nile River," she said, pointing to the river not too far from us. "Not surprising your mind would bring you here for your first encounter with me, but I assure you, this is a dream of your brain's creation." _

_"This-This is a dream?" she asked, amazed. "It feels..so real, and it looks so..clear. Except you. You hurt to look at and to hear," she admitted and the goddess smiled beautifully._

_"You'll get used to talking to a Goddess. I'm sure we'll be in touch quite a lot for the next years to come."_

_Her words sent a wave of anxiety to my stomach. Years to come? _

_"But..Goddess, I don't understand why you're talking to me now.."_

_"You didn't honestly think I'd give you nine lives and not expect me to talk to you, Chloe King. Really?" the goddess said, with an edge in her voice that made it even more painful to listen to. _

_"I wanted to say that you did the right thing to bring that Jackal home today. Anubis and I have always disapproved of our creation's ill will to each other. That's not what we planned, but things are the way they are. The main point is that you've made one of the first steps to becoming the true Uniter that the Mai, humans, and everything inbetween need you to be."_

_"What does that even mean? What am I supposed to even be doing?" she asked. "And can you tell me anything about Valentina?"_

_A shadow crossed over the beautiful goddess' face, "Do not trust that woman farther than you can throw her, Chloe King. I see evil in her heart, and she will cause you a lot of grief. What I need you to do is meet other Mai leaders, outside of San Francisco. There's so many more that can teach you better what it is to be Mai," the Goddess told her, "Valentina is good at getting what she wants. If you're not it, she gets rid of you."_

_Chloe felt a chill of terror go down her spine as she listened to the goddess' prediction. _

_"I'll ask Alek about other Mai clan leaders tomorrow, I guess," Chloe said quietly._

_The goddess smiled, and bowed her head. "You're so brave, Chloe I couldn't have asked for a better Uniter. Now relax, and go back to sleep." _

_And the world went black again._

_. ... ._

**Author's Note: **

**Yes, I leave it there because to be honest I'm still getting in the swing of writing again. I hope you liked the chapter! Hopefully the next chapter things will pick up. Until then, I'd like to add that reviews make me write faster..*smile***


	3. Chapter Three

**Author's Note:**

**So more of my hours are going into this story lately. Way more than I had been expecting. Haha. I feel the need to spend my time studying Egyptology and...lord knows from there. There's so much lore and I'm having difficulties trying to tie that into my story. However, I feel like I have discovered a solution. **

**Having figured out the general plot of this story, I will say that the rating...might go up, and that those who aren't interested in reading character development and more plot line than romance sometimes, should probably stop reading now(read: Please don't leave! I swear I'll try to make it a good plot with enough romance thrown in!).**

**With many thanks to my reviewers and still a few thanks to those who subscribed to this story, enjoy the next chapter. :)**

. ... .

_Chloe's POV_

When I woke, I found that my ears were still slightly sore, like they had been in my dream.

I looked over at my clock and saw that it was earlier than I usually got up for school. My alarm's unforgiving, red numbers let me know it was half past five. I crawled out of bed; no use trying to get sleep now.

I walked to my closet, trying to find something half decent to wear to school today. Though it seemed silly in comparison to the fact that I had just had an ancient goddess appear to me in a dream-_or did I? Could it have just been a dream?_-I was nervous to see Alek today. Events from last night played back in my head and I found myself blushing. The way that he made me feel, how my body reacted to him; it was amazing and incredibly terrifying.

I would have never thought that I would let him kiss me like that. That I would kiss _him_ like that.

"Teenage hormones and super human Mai powers mixed with a kiss of death to any human," I muttered to myself, "Yeah, no wonder I made out with Alek." For some reason, though, that didn't feel truthful to me.

I shrugged it off and picked an outfit. Shuffling my feet to the bathroom, I got into the shower. The feeling of the warm water on my back comforted me. Feeling as though I was safe from what seemed to be ever-watching eyes, I allowed myself to think as the steam formed around me.

I considered my dream last night. Could I call it that? I never dreamt that way before. Everything, from the dry heat in the air, to the sun glaring on the water of the Nile had seemed so _real_. I could smell the sand; almost taste the air in the back of my throat. I remembered exactly what Bestet looked like. Far too beautiful for a human. The way she walked was way too graceful for even a Mai; she walked as if she floated.

My dream last night was...so _clear._ Normally my dreams would fuzz over the longer I stayed awake, but this was different. The whole thing unnerved me and raised more questions than answers.

The first answer was obvious. What was I, and why was I born with eight lives? Secondly, if I was a result of a prophecy, then what was I supposed to do? And thirdly, how did Bestet add into this measure?

She told me that Valentina wasn't my ally. After what Alek told me, I was inclined to believe her. The fact that she could look into my eyes and lie to me so seamlessly did not make me happy, or trust her any more. I would keep my eye on Valentina. Maybe I had let her get too close for comfort.

Feeling comfortable in that I was clean, I turned the hot water off. Knowing that the air would feel terribly chilled no matter how long I stayed in the nice warm shower, I opened the door and stepped out into my bathroom.

Cleaning the fog off my mirror, I stared at the reflection looking back at me.

_I'm sorry, Chloe, but your life is no longer your own. _The words spoken by Valentina came to my mind with a force, and I felt a pull in my stomach.

What was going to happen?

. ... .

Chloe took the city bus to school that morning. Amy had sent her a text asking her if she needed a ride, but Chloe had still needed time to digest all that happened yesterday and this morning.

It seemed ridiculously unfair that she had to deal with coming to school today. Not only did she have to worry about her weird Mai stuff, but she had a Geometry test today and she was going to fail it. Miserably. She also had an entire packet of problems to do before she got to that class, because it was due before the test was to be started.

She had seventh hour geometry, and she was screwed.

Sighing when the bus came to a stop at her destination, she got out, to walk the rest of the way. She thought back to before this year; she always used to plug headphones into her ears and blast music on her walk to school. Now she listened around her. When she really focused, she could hear everything. The wind rustling against leaves on a tree, the radio in someone's car as they drove by. The couple walking in front of her were talking excitedly about a baby, the guy saying he hoped it was a girl while the woman wanted a boy.

It was amazing, but she still hadn't gotten control over it completely. While Chloe was listening to everything around her, she failed to notice footsteps until an arm grabbed her shoulder. Chloe gasped, immediately pushing the unknown person away.

"Chloe! It's just me!" Paul said, and Chloe let out something that was a mix of a sigh and a growl.

"What do you want Paul?" she asked, though it came out with more venom than she intended it to.

"Nothing, really. I was just thinking, well wouldn't it be awesome if you had even more cool powers that other Mai don't have? At least not any more? I mean, if they all had the ability to get those weird empathy feelings before and now none of them do anymore. Don't you think that it's possible that they've forgotten other stuff, too?" His brown eyes were wide and excited._ It was all a cool comic book story to him, _she thought bitterly. _It wasn't his life_.

Looking at her friend of many years, she felt an odd animosity towards him.

"You think everything is so _coooool_, Paul. Everything about it is just to fucking interesting to you, isn't it! Well news flash! As glamorous as it looks, being a freak isn't all it's cracked up to be."

The words were out of her mouth before Chloe had time to think about them, and the excitement immediately left Paul's eyes. Instead they were sad, and he looked embarrassed. She immediately felt bad.

"Sorry Chloe...I mean I can't know how hard it is for you. I just..I don't think that you're looking at this the right way," he said. His voice was more serious now, the awe almost completely gone from it. "For goodness sake, Chloe, do you realize how _special_ you are? You can change anything, Chloe! You're going to..you're going to do _amazing _things." He fell silent for a moment, and Chloe didn't know how to respond. She didn't see this side of Paul often.

"I just..I want to learn everything that I can, for as long as I can because.." he paused again and Chloe looked at him. Her blue eyes tightened; she knew what he was going to say. "Because..I know that Amy and I won't be in your life for forever. It's just a feeling, but I know it's true. I think Amy knows, too. She just doesn't want to admit it-"

Chloe immediately threw her arms around a surprised Paul, who hugged her back even though he wasn't sure what had caused such a change in her attitude.

"Chloe?" he asked, cautiously.

"Oh, Paul! You're such a nice guy sometimes, and then such an idiot other times! I don't know whether to hug you or strangle you most times, but when you say stuff like that I realize why I restrain myself," Chloe said, her voice a little higher than normal.

"Uhm..thanks?"

"What I meant to say is...Paul, I can't say you're not right, and that I'll stay in San Francisco for forever and that you, Amy and I will stay friends for forever. But I can say that no matter where my life leads, where I end up and whatever I might be doing, I'll never have friends like you and Amy. My first true friends, who knew me and were with me before I was the Uniter and a Mai," Chloe said, and smiled at him then. "That will stay with me for forever."

. ... .

Chloe walked into school after her heart-to-heart with Paul, and she found herself looking for Alek as she walked up and down the hallways that morning. She didn't see him.

By the time her third hour class came around, she was starting to feel seriously depressed. She knew it was stupid but she had been looking forward to seeing him today a lot more than she wanted to admit. She hadn't seen Jasmine today yet, either. Her brow furrowed, and she considered possible reasoning for their absences. Could it be another assassin? Or some other weird Mai thing? She had never thought of it before, but she realized that she knew very little about Mai culture and tradition. What if today was a weird Mai holiday? But they would have told her..wouldn't they?

Chloe shrugged and pulled out her geometry packet. It was hell(demons included), all stapled into six front-to-back pages. Opening it, she browsed over the problems and the complicated looking proofs and formulas.

This was hopeless.

Placing her chin on the palm of her hand, she slowly started to scribble down the numbers and shapes, trying to make sense of the problems she was reading. Slowly, her head started to fuzz and it felt as though she were falling asleep. Her eyes felt heavy and she closed them for a moment.

_When she opened them, there was a brilliant light shining through the windows to her left. It gave the room of her study hall a brilliant, yellow glow._

_Chloe looked to her right. There were still kids in the other desks, but Chloe felt oddly distant from them. One of the seniors threw a ball of paper at the substitute, and the older man began to yell. Chloe watched as this happened, but the noises they were making were too muffled, even for her ears. It almost sounded as if they were under water._

_There was a sense of calm that Chloe felt, and she found she wasn't surprised when she heard a familiar, painful voice._

_"Public education, these days. It almost makes me sad. Humans don't realized how much knowledge they've lost.." Bestet said, sounding forlorn. Chloe stayed silent, dumbstruck at her sudden appearance._

_"What's the matter, dear? Cat got your tongue?" the goddess asked, her tone light and teasing. Her voice was easier to listen to when she was happy. _

_Chloe realized that she looked stupid, just gapping at the beautiful woman. After trying to start a few sentences and failing, she managed to blurt out a poorly articulated question._

_"What are you doing..and how did you..and why can't they see you..?"_

_The caramel-skinned woman held her hand up to silence the young girl._

__"What you are seeing right now, Chloe is another dimension. It's parallel to your own; right on the edge of it, if you will. It's the place that things go that don't quite live in your world, but are connected to it," she explained. "This is the place that gods can watch their creations. We can look, touch, and influence. If we so choose," she said, and Chloe's eyebrows raised.__

__"You can influence __humans_ here?" she asked, as she looked around the classroom. It was the same as it was normally, but yet different. The colors were sharper, and brighter, and the entire _atmosphere _was lighter. She felt free, and invigorated._

_"Well of course we can. We used to do it all the time, in the days of old. It was easier back then, when the humans and others actively acknowledged our presence, but we can still do it now," she said, and then looked over to the human boy that was aggravating the substitute teacher. Her bright green cat eyes flashed._

_"You!" She said, directly to the boy, as if he could hear her. "Human boy! Respect your elders and people who are more wise than you. Who taught you such manners? Sit down and do your homework!" her voice was firmer than Chloe had ever heard it, and it hurt her ears to listen. But sure enough, she watched as the boy looked around. Apparently unnerved, he quieted and pulled out a physics book._

_Bestet looked to Chloe and raised an eyebrow. The _I-told-you-so _was written on her face, and Chloe was amazed. _

_"How...how did you do that?" she asked, and was gifted a beautiful smile from the goddess. _

_"Nevermind how. Don't you want to know why I came to see you?" she asked, and Chloe nodded. _

_Bestet walked around, and sat in the desk in front of Chloe. She sat the wrong way in the chair, and looked down at Chloe's geometry packet._

_"You know, your human friend-Paul, I think it is? Interesting kid, that one-was right this morning," she said, as her eyes leveled with Chloe's. "There are a lot of things that Mai have forgotten through the years. This," she pointed to the packet, "would not have been a problem for you, if you had been born in the Golden Age of the Mai. Like I said, so much knowledge lost.."_

_Chloe looked at the goddess. She found that her head hurt less and less the longer that she was around her. Still, it was painful to look at her for too long. "What are you saying? How is that supposed to help me now? Obviously, this isn't the Golden Age," she said, and Bestet threw her a grin._

_"That's just it. You, Chloe King, are different than the Mai of this age. I have left my mark on you, and you're more like your ancestors than you even know. You, you are capable of doing that," she pointed to the packet again, "with no difficulty. You simply have to open your mind to it. Numbers like these opened many secrets in times of old. You need to realize that they're nothing but patterns." The woman reached across the desk and grabbed a wisp of Chloe's blonde curls, tucking it behind the girl's ear. She touched her cheek lightly. _

_Chloe's skin burned with the contact, a burn similar to how it felt when Alek touched her, but without the slow, liquid heat that melted her to her very core. She winced slightly but when the goddess' fingers ended contact, there was an odd numbing sensation. _

_"I told you we were going to be having many conversations, Chloe. You haven't seen the last of me yet, my child. Now, do your homework. I'm sure you'll have a lot easier time, now." _

_As she spoke, Chloe could feel the familiar feeling of falling asleep. The words echoed in her ears until she felt her hand slip out from beneath her chin, and suddenly-_

_-_her eyes flew open and she caught herself before her face hit the desk. Her heart was racing, and she looked around her. Her blue eyes landed on the formerly rowdy senior, surprised when she saw he was still dutifully doing homework. This was all too weird for her. Sighing shakily, she looked down again at her geometry packet.

She bit her bottom lip, as she focused in on the problem at hand. Patterns, eh? She tried to understand and she found that suddenly, as she read the problem for the fifth time, something stuck out to her that didn't before. And before she knew it she had worked through every problem on that page, the numbers and steps coming to her as though she had known them for forever. She didn't even have to try.

She thought back onto what the goddess had said, and wondered how she could be the only Mai still able to do this. How had the Mai and humans lost so much knowledge that Bestet spoke about?

As Chloe finished the last problem, the bell toned. The room was filled with the sound of chairs moving back and notebooks being jammed into backpacks. Chloe followed suit. Off to the next class. She wondered if she'd have another encounter from the goddess that suddenly seemed real interested in her. Hell, if she had more stuff to tell her that would make school easier, Chloe wasn't going to complain.

. ... .

_Chloe's POV_

I had looked for Alek and Jasmine all day today, and I eventually found myself fearing for them. What if Valentina had been angry at them for yesterday? Bestet's warning last night rung in my ears again, and I felt a wave of nausea. _Please, let nothing have happened to them_, I prayed silently. I walked to my sixth hour class and was walking by a door when suddenly it opened, and I was pulled inside.

"What do you think you're doing-?" I started yelling, when suddenly I felt lips on mine. _Alek_. My eyes saw him and they closed as I let myself be kissed. He pushed me against the door that he had pulled me into the room from, and I moaned lightly when I felt his lust through his jeans.

He took advantage of my open mouth to enter my mouth with his tongue, and he worked his jaw against mine with an expertise that left me once again, without breath. One of his hands were behind my head, tangled in my hair and the other was on the curve of my back, holding me to him as close as possible.

Slowly, he pulled away from the kiss and began kissing down my neck with his hot lips. This time he pulled my skin in lightly between his teeth, and the combination of kissing, sucking, biting, was enough to make me tremble.

If I had enough mental capacity to think about anything else other than how his unexpected, urgent need for me set my body on fire and how I wanted to do so much more than just kiss him, I would have realized that this was moving too fast. Fortunately, that didn't matter to me right now.

"Mmm, your skin is so soft," he whispered against my sensitive flesh. I moaned lightly, and he kissed lightly where he had been not so gentle before. "That sound, I think it's becoming my favorite tune."

He kissed me again, softer and sweeter this time. His hand behind my head traveled down my body, stopping at my breasts. He cupped one in his hand and squeezed lightly. I moaned into the kiss as his fingers moved against me, through my shirt. It was such a tease and my knees trembled.

Suddenly his hand was gone and I missed the feeling of him touching me like that. He never broke the kiss though, and only when I felt him starting to play with the hem of my shirt did I finally get the willpower to pull away from him.

"Alek.."I said, breathlessly.

"Mmm..yes, Chloe?" he asked, lazily. He leaned in to kiss me again, but I pulled away from him again. "What is it?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed that I had stopped kissing him.

I ignored his tone, mostly because I understood why he was grumpy. I'd much rather be kissing him too, but there was other things I needed to know.

"Alek, I need you to tell me about the Mai leaders in other cities, near here."

. ... .

**Author's Note: This is where I leave you. Hope you enjoyed! I'll post another chapter sometime this coming week, but always remember that reviews make me write faster. :)**

**P.S. I went back and edited the last chapter. Nothing significant, but those who read it the day it was published might want to go back and reread it. **


	4. Chapter Four

**Author's Note:**

**So many ideas for this story..it's like my own little playground! :) The reviews I got were great! Thank you to everyone that took the time and dropped me some feedback. **

**That being said, this chapter is dedicated to _CtrlAltDelicious_ for her sweet review! Enjoy.**

**. ... .**

_Chloe's POV_

"You want to know about..what?" Alek said, stepping back from me as well. I felt an uncomfortable shift in the air.

"I was wondering about other Mai leaders. What are they like? You said Valentina was the leader of the Mai here in San Francisco, so there has to be different leaders in other cities."

Alek frowned slightly, and looked into my eyes with his dark gaze.

"Why are you asking about them all of a sudden, Chloe?" he questioned, and I knew that he knew that I wasn't being completely honest with him. I bit my bottom lip nervously.

"I was just curious.." I said quietly, looking away from his intense eyes.

I didn't like lying to Alek, but if I were to tell him about Bestet? What would happen then? I knew the answer. He would go and tell Jasmine and Valentina. It wasn't Jasmine and Alek I didn't trust, but it made my stomach queasy when I thought about Valentina learning of my connection to our ancestress and goddess. I felt my shoulders tremble as I remembered the conversation that I had had with Alek and Jasmine just before I met Valentina.

_'She's killed thirteen members of the Order with her bare hands.." Alek had said, and I rolled my eyes at him._

_'...The number is closer to fifteen, actually..' Jasmine had informed me, her voice sounding way too casual for my liking._

Interrupted from my thoughts, Alek wrapped his arms around my stomach, pulling me close to him.

"It's okay, Chloe. You just caught me off guard, asking about them out of no where like that. What do you want to know, exactly?" Alek asked me in a softer tone, and I smiled. Bringing my arms to rest on his shoulders, we stood in a half-embrace as we spoke.

"I don't know, necessary information? I'm supposed to be the Uniter and I know absolutely nothing about anything! I feel so...ignorant about everything," I said, trailing off when I noticed Alek begin to smile. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing, I just think it's great that I'm the one you always come to, with anything you need.." Alek pulled me closer and I found myself appreciating his muscular chest, even through his clothes. I inhaled quickly when I felt Alek's soft lips whispering against my ear, "Well, _almost_ anything.."

His voice sent an aching thrill down my body and I gasped almost silently. _Too fast_. I pulled back from Alek, and he let go of me.

"What-"

"Don't you what me! And now that you bring up that," I said, as an after thought struck me and the glow that his lips gave my body wore off, "You can't just yank a girl into a classroom and start making out with her without warning!"

Alek looked at me for a moment, and it became apparent he was holding back laughter.

I exhaled sharply through my nose. "Obviously you're not able of talking to me with your _intelligent_ brain right now," I said, annoyed. "So I'm going to go to class and you can do _whatever_ you do with your time."

I turned away from him and began walking away when he grabbed my arm lightly.

"Chloe, wait! I'm sorry," he said, and I looked back at him, "I just get distracted by you sometimes..Can you really fault me for never wanting to stop kissing you?" he trailed off. I narrowed my eyes at him as I watched his brown eyes stray to my lips.

I cleared my throat and Alek's eyes came back to mine again, and he blushed. _He blushed_! I never thought I'd see the day.

"Anyways. I'm on my best behavior now," he added on. I couldn't help but smile a little.

"Then I need you to tell me about the other Mai leaders," I said, simply.

He paused and then spoke, "Well, I'm not having this conversation with you in an empty classroom. Lets go get coffee or something."

I hesitated, "I..I have class and-"

"What, the Uniter is afraid of skipping class? Oh, that's rich. Where's that bravery I saw down there with the Jackals?" Alek cut me off, and I frowned at his taunt.

"I'm not afraid!" I said, indignant.

Alek smirked, "Prove it, kitten."

. ... .

Before Chloe knew it, they had left the school and were walking the streets of San Francisco.

Chloe had that awkward feeling that a person gets when they have so much to say to one person and didn't even know where to start. _Oh, hey Alek. I know we kissed last night but does that mean you're my boyfriend? Oh, and hey, I think that Valentina might be out to get me. Why do I think that? Well, you know..our ancestress appears to me on a semi-regular basis and basically told me I can't trust her farther than I can throw her..._

Chloe put her hands in the pocket of her hoodie, and then flashed her blue eyes to Alek. He looked at her at the same moment.

"You okay over there, in that beautiful little head of yours?"

Chloe shook her head slightly as they neared the small coffee shop that Chloe visited often. "I don't know, Alek. These past few days have been so..overwhelming and confusing."

Just then they approached the counter, and the barista locked her eyes in on Alek.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she asked huskily, only looking at Alek as if Chloe didn't exist.

Chloe's eyebrows raised, and she looked at Alek. His eyes were locked onto the beautiful brunette behind the bar. Chloe felt a surge of annoyance to the human girl, and turned her gaze to her.

"I'd like a vanilla cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso," Chloe said, and something about her tone made the barista unglue her eyes from Alek for a moment to look at her after she said it. Chloe saw a hint of something in the brunette's eyes as she punched Chloe's order into the computer. When she looked at Alek again, there was a different way about her when she talked to him. "And...you?"

"Same thing."

Money was exchanged then, with Alek paying, despite protests from Chloe.

"Alright, you two can go sit down. I'll bring it out to you."

Chloe watched as she turned around quickly and began making their drinks without another word. Mildly confused, she lead her and Alek to sit at a table away from windows. _Who knows who could be watching nowadays.._Chloe thought to herself._ Or maybe I'm just becoming paranoid.._

As she was about to sit down, Alek grabbed her arm lightly. She stopped, and he pulled out her chair for her wordlessly. Chloe looked at him and caught his eyes with her own, "Thank you," she said, sitting in the chair lightly.

"Anytime," as he pushed her chair in. Then he sat across from her, and she was faced with his intense stare again. He seemed to have a question in his eyes, and Chloe shifted nervously in her seat.

"What was that?" he asked, after she was silent for a while.

"What was what?"

"_That_. With the barista. You said one sentence to the girl and she backed off like a scared mouse," Alek said, and Chloe's brow furrowed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said honestly. "I didn't do anything on purpose."

Alek stared at her and then decided to let the subject go.

"So, you wanted to know about other Mai leaders?" Alek asked, and Chloe nodded. "Well, there's more Mai in California than any other state, you know," he began, "There's also a large settlement in New York and a few in Texas, and one small one in Florida," he told her, and Chloe felt the familiar feeling of being overwhelmed. All of the Mai were so spread out-how had that happened? Somehow, it didn't..feel right to her.

"Now, there are three leaders in California. Valentina, of course, in San Francisco. She deals with the Mai located in all the nearby areas. There's Dariya in Sacramento, and then Dimitri in Los Angeles," Alek told her, and she gave him her full attention.

"Dariya and Valentina, well, they're always in each other's business. Kind of like you and Amy, actually," he said, and Chloe narrowed her eyes at him.

"That's not true!" she protested, and Alek gave her a look.

"You can't honestly argue with me, can you? You've told her and Paul more than any human is supposed to know!"

"Says who? Valentina?" Chloe argued back, and Alek raised his eyebrows slightly.

"Look, maybe it was a mistake to tell you about what Valentina planned, but you can't honestly think that she's doing anything other than trying to protect you.." he said, almost expressionless. Chloe knew better, though. She could almost see his clear loyalty to Valentina written on his face.

"I know that, Alek," she lied smoothly. When had she gotten so good at that? "I just..I don't know. I'm just annoyed, is all."

Their conversation came to an abrupt halt as the barista brought them their drinks. Chloe remembered what Alek said about how the girl was frightened of her, and made sure to smile and say thank you. However, she didn't stick around, scampering off to safety behind her counter.

"Well, annoyed or not, remember who your allies are, and _don't_ let Jasmine hear you talk about her mom like that.." Alek said, his tone lighter. Chloe flashed a fake grin and nodded in understanding. "Anyways," he continued, "Dariya is from the Ukraine. She came here after she lost her husband and daughter to the Order. She's the Yin to Valentina's Yang, if that makes sense. She's slightly older than Valentina, " he said, rattling on information about the woman.

"How old is she?" Chloe asked, and Alek grinned.

"Ninety-seven," he replied smoothly, and Chloe choked on her cappuccino.

"Ninety-seven? How old is Valentina?" Chloe asked, fighting the words through her coughing.

"Ninety-five."

"Oh, my god," she said, her eyes wide. "How..how is that even possible?" she asked quietly, looking down at her hands. Alek flashed a small smile, and reached across the table, grabbing her hand and taking it in his own.

"You're so naive to your new life, Chloe," he said softly, and his tone gave Chloe an extreme case of butterflies in her stomach. She watched in silence as he brought her hand to her mouth, kissing it lightly.

Suddenly finding it hard to breathe, Chloe pulled her hand away from his seductive mouth.

"Alek, focus," she said, trying to sound stern, but her voice came out shaky. Alek shrugged, scooping her hand back up with his easily.

"Anyways, we don't really have a lot of contact with Dimitri. He and Valentina..don't see eye to eye on some things. He's a mystic, and believes that Bestet herself can communicate to us," he said, rolling his eyes. "As if she even still cared.." he added in an undertone.

"Wait, you're saying that he claims to have talked to her before?" she asked, as a wave of different emotions hit her. Excitement because this is exactly what she was hoping to hear, and dread because the one guy she might be able to get answers from was obviously on the other side of the fence with her current allies.

"I don't know exactly. All that I know is that he's a very back-to-basics kind of guy. He trains his Mai in martial arts and is a big believer in the goddess. I've never met him, but I've heard Valentina mention him on several circumstances."

Chloe had to try not to look too interested, she knew. Alek's dark gaze was unreadable as he told her information. "What kind of circumstances?" she asked quietly.

Alek sighed, and he took a drink of his cappuccino.

"Chloe, I don't know how to explain all of this to you.. Maybe you should ask Valentina?"

"I will. I just want to hear what you can tell me first," she told him, "Just give me at least a little bit of understanding before I go talk to her," she pleaded.

Alek couldn't say no to her. He had promised Valentina not to tell her some of the things Chloe was asking him right now, but in all honesty it didn't feel right keeping her as blind as she was. He couldn't do it any longer.

"Alright, Chloe," he sighed, "ask and you shall receive.

"What you have to know first, is that the Mai have fallen eons from where we used to be. Our numbers are diminishing at an exponential pace. In population world wide, our numbers have dropped to less than half of what they where fifty years ago," he told her and she felt her eyes widen.

"What were they fifty years ago?" she asked.

"Five million, globally," he told her. "There were few settlements on every continent. Cities of affluence. They were very centralized around their city, however, and that was why the Order was able to go through us so quickly," he said, his voice darkening.

"Over the past fifty years, Order assassinations has caused a flight of the Mai. We have spread and disconnected from each other. We haven't heard from some Mai settlements that we used to talk to monthly in ages. Some have just fled and hid. Some have been murdered."

Chloe listened to his words, a cold shiver going down her back. Alek's words were hitting her with a force. From a corner of her mind, she recalled Valentina's words the first time she met the woman.

_'You were born during dark times...so many Mai were scattered and lost...Its my job to find them...'_

Chloe blinked the memory away, coming back into her conversation with Alek.

"Some Mai have chosen to hide in human society. Other's have decided to go on the offensive and fight the Order. And yet some other Mai have chosen to go rouge and kill humans and others indiscriminately. Peachy times."

Chloe simply looked at him. She didn't...know what to say. What Alek was describing was so unbelievably terrible. And knowing that the Order was after her made it even worse. What was she going to do? What could she do?

"So that's what's wrong with Valentina and Dimitri? Conflicting choices?" she asked slowly and Alek nodded.

"Valentina wants to hide in the background. Dimitri is something of and Undesirable to the Order," he said, stopping himself from continuing his thought. _Rather like you, Chloe King._

"Well, at least him and I have something in common.." she said, and Alek looked at her strangely. She didn't catch it, though, and he chose not to voice what just happened.

Chloe sat in silence, letting Alek's information soak in on her.

"Well, I mean, that wasn't really what I wanted to hear, but thanks for not treating me like a little child that has to be protected," Chloe said, and Alek shrugged.

"I believe in you, Chloe. I think you deserve to know what's going on in your own life."

Chloe smiled at him, and began drinking her lukewarm cappuccino. Thoughts were circling in her mind. Her conversation with Alek had raised more questions than answers; more thoughts than comfort.

. … .

The street was busy. A main street crossed another main street, leading to a main intersection. On the corner there was a cute little coffee shop. Near it, on the sidewalk, was a bus stop, and a man and a woman sat.

"I don't know what we're doing here," said the man. He was reading the news paper, and his lips barely moved.

"You heard what the Jackalsss sssaid at our lasst meeting, my love," said the woman. Her accent was stronger than his.

"I know, she spared their lives but..why?"

"Exxxactly why we're here," she responded, looking at her nails. "I need to know what this Uniter hass under her ssleeve."

The man turned another page in his newspaper.

"Alright. But if we get killed, I hope you know that it is all your fault."

The woman didn't respond, and the man sighed quietly.

"I get the feeling you don't really care."

"You know me too well."

. ... .

**Author's Note:**

**As I said, thanks so much to my reviewers! I wanted to post this much sooner, but I found it difficult because I kept rewriting and editing, plus some personal issues. I'm extremely nervous about this chapter and the next. **

**I will say that I'm not sure if my fanfiction will have _anything_ similar to the ABC series. I've kinda..split the two in my head. _My _NLoCK and _ABC's _NloCK. They might have similar, they might be a complete 180. **

**Hope you stick around to enjoy the ride. :) Please leave a review because they make me write faster. **


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